My Visit

My visit at Christian Light School was a great success! I really enjoyed my week there learning more about the ministries we offer. I observed the baby feeding program, the medical clinic, and some of the classes. I also was able to meet and spend a little time with the children and teenagers in our children's home. My primary focus was learning the monetary system and how we are using our resources. I spent almost half of the trip sifting through receipts and creating a record of them.

It truly is amazing to see all that God has done at CLS and how much He has blessed the ministry! I believe that God has called me and a number of others to go serve at CLS because He has even bigger plans that we can't yet fathom. I see future leaders growing up through our school that will go out and make a difference in Haiti. I see the love of Christ and the Word of God embedded in everything we do!

I absolutely loved getting to know some of the kids, teachers, and staff who make up the body of Christ at CLS. The Americans currently serving there, (David, Micah, Rachel, Sherrie, and Tammy), are all such great people and I'm really looking forward to serving with them! There's nothing like being apart of a family of believers all serving together for a common purpose. All I can say is that it feels like home to me.

Sherrie, David, and Tammy will most likely be leaving for visits to the States in March. It's important that I return by the end of March to start serving at CLS because of this. If the Lord blesses it I would like to return before Sherrie leaves on March 27th.

Please continue to pray for Christian Light School and Children's Home and everyone associated with the ministry! Please pray for me as I have a list of things I need to accomplish before returning to serve full-time in Haiti. Also pray that my financial support will continue to come in. I probably won't have another update on that until the first week of February when I receive my next statement.

If you would like to support me you can find out how to do so here: http://www.christianlighthaiti.org/josh-shappell.html

Thank you to all who are already supporting me both financially and in prayer!

First Support Update!

In December I had the opportunity to share with my home church about my calling to serve at Christian Light School. I'm grateful for the time I was given to do that. It was a blessing to be able to share my passion for serving in Haiti with my church family!

Later in the month I was able to be a part of a great Christmas Eve service! It was a wonderful night of celebrating the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ! The service left me in such a celebratory mood that I even went to another service at a different church later in the night with a friend.

Today I received my first support statement from my account at Christian Light School. After adding what is in my account to monthly pledges I have received, and donations given directly to me, I have about $6,000 so far as of December 31st! I have also been informed that I most likely won't have to pay taxes on any of it, which means my overall monthly support amount just dropped! Now I believe I will only need somewhere between $1,500-1,750 a month, instead of $2,000 to cover my needs and ministry expenses. If I break it down over a year into monthly amounts, I'm currently somewhere between 28.57%-33.33% of my total monthly support needed!

It's been awesome to see God's provisions so far! I know there are many others who have either verbally committed to supporting me, or are still prayerfully considering supporting me. I would like to thank everyone who has already partnered with me on this journey. From the unemployed woman who gave my grandma the two dollars she had during Bible study, to my church taking up a special offering, thank you all!!!

If you are reading this and would like to help me get to Haiti and/or would like to find out more about Christian Light School, please visit my page at http://www.christianlighthaiti.org/josh-shappell.html.

Please continue to pray for me! I will be flying down to Haiti Thursday morning to stay at the school for a week. Pray that there won't be any major complications with travel, I'll be able to kick this stubborn cold I currently have, and that much will be accomplished in the brief week I'll have with my CLS family!

Much more to come :)